1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to adjustable mounts that are well suited to mount a device, such as a camera, onto a structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the past, most camera supports have evolved from tripods. Tripods are adequate for still pictures and allow the photographer to stand behind the camera and look through the view finder without having to hold the camera in a steady position. Tripods are used for supporting the weight and maintaining the stability of another object. A tripod provides stability against downward forces, horizontal forces and moments about horizontal axes. The positioning of the three feet away from the vertical center allows the tripod better leverage for resisting lateral forces.
Video cameras and especially hand-held camcorders can be positioned on a tripod and can be left unattended. This is especially true when a sporting event being recorded or photographed is in one room or in one area, such as a baseball field or tennis court. Tripods allow a camera to be set up, the scene reviewed, adjustments made, and then left recording while unattended. A tripod mounted camera is very desirable for people in that they can be part of the action or watch the event as a spectator, eliminating an additional person for recording. Tripods can be large, bulky, can take up a lot of floor space, are often in the way of the action being recorded and could block the view of other spectators of the event being recorded/photographed. It is also desirable to position a camera on or against a wall or surface to get it out of the way of other spectators view, thereby reducing the blocked viewing area as much as possible. This is not possible with a tripod.
An alternative to using a tripod is for a person to manually hold a camera in their hands. When a photograph is taken using a hand-held camera, the camera is usually grasped by the photographer in one hand and positioned in the proximity of the photographer's face. In this position, the photographer can see through the viewfinder of the camera, select the scene to be photographed and then operate the shutter release mechanism. However, it can be difficult to hold the camera steady while the shutter is open. When a person's arms remain in the position required to hold the camera in the proximity of his face more than a few seconds, tensions develop in the hand, wrist and arm. The natural result of this tension is a reflexive high-frequency shaking, with resulting camera movement that blurs the recorded image. This problem is particularly acute where the camera is heavy, a long telephoto lens is used, the photographer is working in an awkward position, the photographer must hold a position for a length of time waiting for a particular scene to occur, and where long exposure times are required because of low light conditions or to increase the depth of field.
Photographing or recording a sporting event could be obstructed due to barriers or structures that are part of the field where the sporting event is taking place, or are designed to provide protection to spectators from being injured from projectiles or other objects that are used during or in conjunction with the sporting event. For example, baseball and softball fields can be fenced in to protect spectators from being hit by a ball that is thrown or hit during the course of the game. The fences are typically chain-link fences and a spectator taking pictures of the game would have an obstructed field of view because the chain-link fence is between the spectator and the game. A spectator could position themselves up against or near the fence so that they could take pictures of the field of play through one of the openings of the chain-link fence. However, the person standing against the chain-link fence would have to manually hold the camera with their hand and would be blocking the view of the spectators behind them.
Placing a camera on a tripod near the fence would still result in the fence obstructing the field of view because the tripod must be positioned a certain distance from the fence due to the nature of the legs extending outward from the center of the tripod. The tripod would not necessarily allow the camera on the tripod to take unobstructed pictures through the openings of the chain-link fence.
There exists a need in many situations to easily and quickly mount a camera in an advantageous position, while at the same time being portable, easy to install, minimize the space the mounted camera takes so as to not be in the way of the action being recorded/photographed, and not be obstructed by the structure to which the camera is mounted.